Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Královská zahrada (Royal Gardens)
It'sworthtakingastrollthroughthenorthgateofthesecondcourtyardandacrossthe
Prašný
most
(PowderBridge),erectedinthesixteenthcenturytoconnectthenewlyestablishedroyal
gardens with the Hrad (the original wooden structure has long since been replaced). Below
lies the steep wooded
Jelení příkop
(Stag Ditch), once used by the Habsburgs for growing
figs and lemons and storing game for the royal hunts, but now accessible to the public.
Beyondthebridgeistheentrancetothemostverdantofthecastle'sgardens,the
Královská
zahrada
, founded by Emperor Ferdinand I in the 1530s on the site of a former vineyard.
Burned down by the Saxons and Swedes during the Thirty Years' War, and blown up by the
Prussians, the gardens were only saved from French attack in 1741 by the payment of thirty
pineapples. Today, these are some of the best-kept gardens in the capital, with fully func-
tioning fountains and immaculately cropped lawns. Consequently, it's a very popular spot,
though more a place for admiring the azaleas and almond trees than lounging around on the
grass. It was here that tulips brought from Turkey were first acclimatized to Europe before
being exported to the Netherlands, and every spring there's an impressive display.
At the main entrance to the gardens is the
Lví dvůr
(Lion's Court), now a restaurant but
originally built by Rudolf II to house his private zoo, which included leopards, lynxes, bears,
wolves and lions, all of whom lived in heated cages to protect them from the Prague winter.
RudolfwasalsoresponsiblefortheRenaissanceball-gamecourt,knownasthe
Míčovna
(oc-
casionally open to the public for concerts and exhibitions), built into the south terrace and
tattooed with sgraffito by his court architect Bonifaz Wolmut. If you look carefully at the top
row of allegorical figures on either side of the sandstone half-columns, you can see that the
figure of Industry, between Justice (Justicia) and Loyalty (Fides), is holding a hammer and
sickle and a copy of the Five-Year Plan, thoughtfully added by Communist restorers in the
1950s. Incidentally, the guarded ochre building to the right of the Míčovna, the
Zahradní
dům
,wasbuiltasasummerhousebyKilianIgnazDientzenhoferonlytobedestroyedduring
the Prussian bombardment of 1757. It was restored by Pavel Janák, who added the building's
twomodernwingsonapostwarwhimoftheill-fated PresidentBeneš;it'snowapresidential
hideaway.
Letohrádek královny Anny/Belvedér (Queen Anne's Summer Palace)
Open only for exhibitions and concerts
AttheendoftheRoyalGardensisPrague'smostcelebratedRenaissancelegacy,
Letohrádek
královny Anny
, sometimes referred to as the
Belvedér
, a delicately arcaded summerhouse
toppedbyaninvertedcoppership'shull,builtbyFerdinandIforhiswife,Anne-thoughshe
didn't live long enough to see it completed. It was designed by the Genoese architect Paolo
della Stella, one of the many Italian masons who settled in Prague in the sixteenth century,
and is decorated with a series of lovely figural reliefs depicting scenes from mythology. The
palace is mainly used for summertime exhibitions by contemporary artists. At the centre of
